Land of Crypts and Helium – Underground Passageway – 4 Weeks After Jane's Entry
Weeks had gone by as Jane and the others recovered from their respective attacks; with her using the time to assemble the completed map from its disparate pieces. Now fully recovered, she was dead set to find out what lay at the end of the crumb trail she'd been following.
Ever since she'd had been forcibly dragged to this place she'd been distracting herself; from her missing father, from the strangeness and the craziness of the situation, from everything. She'd let herself get drawn into the mystery, gotten totally absorbed in what had seemed like a fun time playing detective. Then the attacks had happened and shattered that façade, revealing the brutal dangers that lurked in this world.
She hadn't told any of the others she had completed the map, they didn't even know she'd still been working on it. She'd left in the middle of the night with only Hamilton-Sprite as her guide. She had to do this alone, had to see it through to the end. No one else was going to get hurt on her watch.
Getting the key from Roxy had been the hard part, but her friend had parted with it with only some dodgy references to needing it for 'research purposes'. Jane still felt bad about misleading them all, but it was for their own good, she had to keep them safe.
She reflected on all this as she walked down the damp passageway. It was a rough-hewn stone tunnel carved through the rock. Torches lit the way, thought she wasn't sure how they were functioning after what had to be centuries of neglect. Just another oddity of the game she supposed.
The map had pointed her to the entrance easily enough. It had been well-hidden, buried under a trap-door that had been indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. It would have been impossible for her to have found by luck. She and Hamilton had gone inside without a second thought.
The tunnel had been sloping down at only a modest incline, but had been long. With as far as they'd walked, she knew they must be deep underground, especially if they'd ended up under a hill or another rise in the land.
It was time to get answers. Time to discover what this reality-warping game was all about. She had the map. She had the key. Now all she had to do was reach the end.
She was nervous though. No friends meant no one else to get hurt, but it also meant no backup in case she got hurt. On top of that, Hamilton-Sprite had started to clam up once they'd entered the tunnel. Usually she could get him to start jabbering, even if it wasn't the most enlightening information. But as they'd gone further, he'd gotten less and less responsive to her inquiries. Until now he was just pointedly ignoring her.
Still. She was a lot surer of her powers than she had before, and she wasn't the same scared little girl she's been only a month ago. She was stronger and wiser.
With no fanfare they reached the end of the tunnel. There'd been no enemies, no traps. This was wrong. There should have been something to try and stop her. She was about to reach the end-goal. Wasn't she?
The tunnel ended in a mostly featureless wall. The only object of note being a non-descript door; solidly built from the surrounding stone. Above the door, written in large, stylized letters was the word Echidna. This was the place.
Steeling herself, she took the key out of her sylladex, inserted it, and turned. The door swung away from her without a sound. Beyond, a black void she couldn't see the extents of. She took out a lantern and motioned for Hamilton-Sprite to follow her.
It was then that he surprised her by speaking up again. "I'm sorry Jane, but I'm not allowed to go any further. You have to face this challenge alone. I'll be waiting here for you when you're finished." He returned to silence after that, hovering motionless and refusing to acknowledge her despite her prodding.
Holding her trident in one hand and the lantern in the other, she crossed the threshold and into the inky black beyond.
As soon as she was through the door it slammed itself shut behind her; The force of its closure creating a gust that snuffed the lantern out and left her in pure darkness. She tossed the lantern aside and held tight to her trident with both hands, reaching out with her other senses and trying not to let her terror overwhelm her.
Suddenly a flame lit the darkness above her. Then another, and another; as a series of braziers lit up, suspended by a chains from the distant cavern roof.
As the cavern filled with light, Jane saw she was not alone. In the center of the massive space a snake-like creature was coiled. It was easily 100 feet long, with blue scales. Where the head of the snake should have been was a shape like a woman's torso, stark white and with quills growing out of its back.
The creature shifted and rose. Drawing itself up to its full height and staring down at the shocked 16-yearold.
She didn't know what she had expected, a giant porcupine, maybe, but not this. She prepared for combat, muscles tensed, not sure if she would survive despite her earlier bouts of bravado and confidence. But the creature just continued to stare her down silently.
After a tense few moments the creature opened its mouth and spoke in a feminine voice. "Welcome Jane. I am Echidna, Denizen of this Land. I have awaited your arrival for quite some time. We have much to discuss."
She stood there, her grip on the trident not even relaxing a smidge, her eyes darting around while keeping the snake-women in her peripheral vision. Sure of a trick or a trap, but nothing came.
Jane hesitantly relaxed as it became clear there wasn't going to be a fight. Looking up at Echidna's face she spoke forcefully to ensure the creature could hear her. "Why did you guide me here?"
Echidna responded with a tilt of her head, and a mirthful smile. "Oh? So you can speak. Good. That makes this much easier. But child, to answer your question, how could I have guided you from the depths of these caverns? You got here of your own free will, the same as anyone else."
Jane's eyes narrowed, was Echidna attempting to confuse her? Did she think her dumb? "Yes? Your clues guided me to this cave. You are the same Echidna the monument carvings referred to right?"
The Denizen nodded in confirmation.
"Then you did guide me here. The Consorts left the clues on how to get here on your orders. What's more, you knew exactly how some events were going to happen, which of us would end up at each monument, I read that much from the carvings. This all happened at your discretion. The carvings all said I had to come talk to you, that you would have answers."
Echidna stared at the bold little Human before her and gave a chuckle.
"Good, good. You're more perceptive than some of those I've encountered before. Most wouldn't have bothered reading the inscriptions. Instead barreling ahead blindly. That patience will do you good in the times ahead."
Echidna sat up straighter.
"If it is answers you want then it's answers you shall receive. But be warned. Not all questions are meant to be answered. Now then. Ask away. Any question. And you shall receive the answer."
Jane froze at that. She'd expected more resistance, or at the very least demands or restrictions. The open possibilities briefly threw her for a loop. But she regained her wits and asked, if not the most pressing question, the one that gnawed at her the most. "Where's my dad?"
The snake-woman closed her eyes and nodded, as if she should have expected this to be the first question asked. "Your Father is a prisoner of Derse, the planet furthest from the center of this Session and home to those who oppose you in your quest. They hold him as a bargaining chip, to be used should you grow to be too much of a nuisance."
The news that her father was alive and here sent Jane's heart soaring. But that joy was tempered by the news that he was being held hostage. Working past the fear and elation she asked her second question. "What quest? All I've been working towards the entire time is getting here. No one else knew what to do. If Derse wanted to stop that, then they failed. So what now?"
Echidna shifted to the side, starling Jane and shaking the ground as she moved. Then began to glow with a soft light, illuminating the chamber further and revealing the previously obscured walls. The walls contained a multitude of murals, all showing the Session in miniature; and illustrating some sort of process.
In the first, large towers sprouting off of each of the planets were spewing some sort of material towards the center of the Session. The second seemed to show the material coalescing, as one of the planets launched another bright object towards the center. The last showed an explosion of space; planets, stars, whole galaxies spewing forth from the center, the birth of a universe.
As Jane viewed the scenes, Echidna spoke. "Most Sessions are tasked with the quest of creation, with the ultimate reward being the birth of a new universe; for those who can overcome their challenges. Many try and many fail. But enough achieve success to continue the cycle." The Denizen's glow softened, then dimmed. The cavern darkening and the murals becoming obscured once again as Echidna sidled back to her original position.
"However. Due to circumstances beyond either of our control; that end result is not even possible for this Session. You and your friend's goal is instead to be that of survival, to survive the coming storm long enough that the goal may once again become a possibility."
Confusion showed on Jane's face, so Echidna continued.
"In two months time, help will arrive from beyond your Session. Four heroes will come; your precursors and your futures. The Heir of Breath, the Seer of Light, the Knight of Time, and the Witch of Space. They and others will arrive with the resources need for this Session to bear fruit. But beware… While their arrival to your Session will bring you Hope for success, they also will need your help. They bring with them the unwanted attention of a powerful and terrible being. One whose attention you yourself already have to a limited degree. Lord English."
Jane stopped cringing at the dire warning long enough to be thrown for a loop by the name. "English? Like Jake's last name?"
"No. Lord English is only tangentially related to the Page of Hope."
"But there is a relation. And what did you mean that we already had his attention?"
Echidna let out a sigh. The creature had wanted to get this over with. But the boon of an intelligent player was also a curse. "The story of Lord English began with two siblings, a brother and a sister, both destined to partake in this very game. Through a rare act of guile, the brother slew the sister before their game began. Transforming their already precarious Session into a single-player affair."
This struck a chord in Jane's mind. Ringing eerily familiar to another group of people she'd known in the past. "A brother and sister playing the game? I knew a pair of siblings like that. You don't mean…"
"Yes. The very same pair. Though for the purpose of this particular discussion only the brother is of significant relevance. Not long after the last conversation you had with them; they began to play their Session. The brother was granted the Classpect Title Lord of Time by the game. With these powers and his natural headstrong resilience. He managed to beat the game it it's most abominable condition; a Dead Session. And in doing so he managed to ascend to a level of power few beings have ever imagined."
Jane stood in shock, only half listening to Echidna as the she continued on. Horrified that the chipper young girl she never got to meet was dead. The death troubled her. She'd never even learned her name.
"By his conquest of his Dead Session he ascended higher than any player previously. It was intended for him to be trapped in his Session, never to escape. But he managed to. Using his hard-headedness and mastery of Time-travel he was able to engineer a way out. His escape has only served further empowered him, and has sent countless billions to death."
"Ok wait! Stop!" Shouted Jane, once again interrupting. "I know I'm the one who asked, but why are you telling me all this!"
She collected herself before continuing. "I mean… what can we possibly do against that? I know me and my friends have powers, we're getting stronger; and on top of that there's these outsiders you said are coming to help. But you already said they're on the run too. What can we do that they can't? How can we possibly stand against what you're describing? It's impossible."
"Child. Nothing is impossible, your enemy has already proven that." Said the Denizen. "And besides, you have no choice in the matter but to try. I have informed you of the burden you face, but I cannot help you directly. It has been a stretch of my abilities to even stay hidden as long as I have so that I may instruct you how to survive to face this challenge."
Jane was crestfallen at the news.
"Now listen carefully to what I'm about to say. For this is what you will need to do for this timeline to survive long enough for you to rendezvous with the others."
The instructions Echidna turned out were cryptic, and at times seemed downright silly to Jane, but she took them all down in great detail. When it was done, the Denizen had one final order for Jane.
"Strike me down."
"What?" Said Jane, confused.
"I cannot help you any more than I have." Explained the Denizen. "And my passing in this Session will leave you one final boon to help you on your way. It must be done. Prove yourself a player of this game and finish it."
After a few moments of further hesitation, Jane leapt up. Plunging her trident straight into Echidna's forehead and receiving no resistance. The Denizen exploded in a puff of smoke; showering the cave in crystalline grist like from the murals. But another object fell from the Denizen's form as well.
It was a red trident. Slightly longer than the one Jane had been using, and with a strange sky-colored orb at the end opposite from the points.
Putting her current weapon away, Jane picked up the new trident; making a few experimental swipes and jabs before bringing her focus to the orb at the end. It looked familiar; like the scepter Roxy had taken off of that dead Arch-Agent. She'd been shown it when she'd gone to get the key, Roxy was fascinated by the portal on top.
Curiosity overriding caution Jane slowly extended her towards the portal. Her hand went through with no resistance, going through to somewhere that certainly felt very windy.
Withdrawing her hand from the portal, Jane put the implement into her Strife-Deck. Replacing the trident that she'd used previously. If things were about to get as bad as she'd been told, she'd want the farther reach and the portal utility.
She looked around the cavern one more time before departing, nothing else of note jumping out at her. Approaching the door, she found that it opened for her with no resistance. Hamilton-Sprite seemed back to his normal chipper self and eagerly started chattering away as they left. But Jane wasn't listening. A heavier burden sat on her shoulders than when she arrived, and it looked like her trials were only beginning.